It’s a slight exaggeration – but not by much – that the eyes of the United States will be on Milwaukee tonight when the city hosts a Democratic Presidential Debate at UW-Milwaukee.
The university has its public relations department in high gear trying to take advantage of the exposure that comes with a nationally televised event. While the debate between Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders will dominate, there is a spillover effect for the city.
The debate, moderated by Gwen Ifill and Judy Woodruff, will be hosted by PBS and simulcast on CNN.
In advance of the debate, PBS has resurrected an article from March of last year in which it examines the racial difficulties in Milwaukee, again focusing on the fact that we are the “most segregated city in America.”
I was struck when I saw the news of the article on my Facebook thread, mainly because that post was followed almost immediately by a video created by Purple Onion, a filmmaking company in the Third Ward.
The short film, “Dear MKE,” was sponsored by Visit Milwaukee and was an introduction to the Dear MKE site where people can post films and articles about the city.
“We did this in 2013 and it kind of sat there for a year,” said Steve Farr, the managing partner at Purple Onion. “Steve Roeder produced it, and it didn’t get a lot of attention then. But someone posted it on another site, and in just a couple of days, we were in the hundreds of thousands hits.
“It seems to have a life of its own. We’ll get a hit, and it just takes off again.”
Purple Onion has built a great reputation in this city, and you can see all of the creative juices in full roar in the film. It’s just two minutes long, but watching it, you get the kind emotional wallop that great film can deliver.
It’s truly a Milwaukee gem, featuring a great song from Milwaukee’s own Bennie Cole, who was plying his soul singer trade 40 years ago.
The biggest thing that struck me was how you can have these two wildly divergent views of the same city. One focuses on problems in Milwaukee, one focuses on the joys of Milwaukee.
And the fascinating thing is that both of them are equally true.
